China’s Exim Clears $334 Million for Balkan Highway, Serbia Says

June 28 (Bloomberg) -- Export-Import Bank of China approved
a $334 million loan for parts of a Balkan highway that China’s
Shandong Hi-Speed Group Co. Ltd will build, Serbia said.

Work on two sections totalling 50 kilometers (31 miles) of
the 270-kilometer route between the Serbian capital Belgrade and
the Montenegrin border will start by September, and Shandong
agreed to complete them in 37 months, according to a statement
by Construction Minister Velimir Ilic on the government website.

Serbia is developing the highway that’s part of its so-called Corridor 11 between Romania and the Adriatic. The 20-year
loan with a 2.5 percent interest rate and five-year grace
period, comes from a $10 billion fund that China set for
infrastructure work in central and eastern Europe, carried out
by Chinese contractors.

The Serbian government will also offer concessions worth
about $600 million for another two stretches, as it plans to
have at least half of the highway completed before 2017,
according to Ilic. Serbia plans no further loans for the
project, after borrowing 308 million euros ($401 million) last
year from Azerbaijan for 40 kilometers of the highway.